🎮 Turing's Frequency — A Rhythm Game Where You Decrypt the Voices of History

🏆 This is a submission for the June Solstice Game Jam

🎯 What I Built

Turing's Frequency is a browser-based rhythm game where you decrypt encrypted radio signals by listening to musical patterns and recreating them. Each signal carries a message from a historical figure who changed the world — voices that were silenced, ignored, or forgotten, now restored through your rhythm.

🎮 👉 PLAY THE GAME LIVE 👈

📖 The Story

The game is set in 1954, on the desk of Alan Turing at the University of Manchester. A radio crackles with fragmented transmissions — encrypted messages carrying words of Pride, resistance, and identity.

You are a student who has found Turing's last notebook, and with it, the key to decrypting these signals.

🌅 The connection to the June solstice: As you decrypt each signal, the screen literally brightens — from near-darkness to a flood of golden light. The solstice is the moment light and dark trade places, and this game makes that transition tangible.

🎬 Video Demo

👆 Watch the full gameplay loop: title → story → rhythm gameplay → decrypted messages → victory screen with solstice light effect.

🕹️ How to Play

1. 🎧 Listen to the signal pattern
2. 🎹 Repeat the notes in order
3. 🔓 Decrypt the message
4. 🌅 Restore the voice

💻 The Code

The entire game is a single HTML file (~32KB) with zero external dependencies. No frameworks, no libraries, no asset files (similar to how I built my npm package with zero dependencies) — just HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript.

⚡ Key Technical Decisions

🔊 Web Audio API for all sound:
Every tone is synthesized in real-time using oscillators. The game uses a pentatonic scale (C4, E4, G4, C5) so every combination of notes sounds pleasant. No audio files needed.

function playTone(freq, duration = 0.3, type = 'sine', volume = 0.3) {
  const osc = audioCtx.createOscillator();
  const gain = audioCtx.createGain();
  osc.type = type;
  osc.frequency.setValueAtTime(freq, audioCtx.currentTime);
  gain.gain.setValueAtTime(volume, audioCtx.currentTime);
  gain.gain.exponentialRampToValueAtTime(0.001, audioCtx.currentTime + duration);
  osc.connect(gain);
  gain.connect(audioCtx.destination);
  osc.start();
  osc.stop(audioCtx.currentTime + duration);
}

📺 CRT aesthetic with pure CSS:
Scanlines, flicker, and glow effects are all CSS — no canvas rendering needed.

🌅 Progressive brightness:
A radial gradient overlay transitions from 0% to 12% opacity gold as you progress through levels, creating the solstice "longest day" effect.

🤖 Auto-demo mode:
Adding ?demo to the URL triggers an automated playthrough — perfect for recording videos or showing judges the full experience.

🎵 The Five Signals

🧠 Why Rhythm?

Most June Solstice Game Jam submissions are visual — platformers, puzzles, cipher games. I wanted to make something auditory.

A rhythm game where the mechanic itself is "listening and repeating" felt like the right metaphor for amplifying voices that deserve to be heard.

💡 "The best games are the ones where the mechanic IS the message."

🏆 Prize Categories

🎖️ Best Ode to Alan Turing

This game is directly inspired by Alan Turing's life and legacy:

• 🏛️ The setting: 1954, Turing's final year at Manchester
• 🔐 The mechanic: Decrypting signals mirrors Turing's work at Bletchley Park
• 🏳️‍🌈 The metaphor: Turing was persecuted for being gay — this game restores voices of Pride
• 1️⃣ Level 1 is dedicated to Turing himself

🤖 Best Google AI Usage

I used Google Gemini to assist with (see my full Google I/O 2026 tools review for more AI tools):

• 📚 Research and quote verification
• 🎵 Pentatonic scale design for pleasant sounds
• 🐛 Debugging the auto-demo mode
• ✍️ Crafting the narrative framing

🛠️ Tech Stack

No frameworks. No libraries. No build tools. Just web. (If you're interested in AI agents, check out my Hermes Agent vs LangGraph vs AutoGen comparison)

🔗 Links

• 🎮 Play the Game
• 🎬 Watch Demo Video
• 💻 View Source Code
• 🏆 June Solstice Game Jam

💬 What Do You Think?

I'd love to hear your feedback! (For more on AI and development, read my take on Vibe Coding is Fun Until You Hit Production)

• 🎵 Did the rhythm mechanic feel satisfying?
• 🌅 Did you notice the brightness increasing?
• 💡 Any ideas for new levels or historical figures?

Drop a comment below! 👇

🏳️‍🌈 Built with Web Audio API, vanilla JavaScript, and a lot of respect for the voices in this game.

Happy Pride Month. Happy Solstice. Happy Birthday, Alan. 🌅

📚 Related Resources

• Web Audio API Documentation — Learn how to synthesize sound in the browser
• How to Build Games with JavaScript — Community for HTML5 game developers
• GitHub Pages Deployment Guide — Host your own games for free
• Alan Turing's Legacy — Learn about the father of computer science
• Stonewall Riots History — The history of Pride
• CSS Tricks: Animations — Create CRT effects like mine

What did you think of this post? Let me know in the comments! 👇

📚 My Other Posts You Might Enjoy

If you liked this post, check out my other work on dev.to:

• 🚀 I Revived My Abandoned Python Script Into a Published npm Package — How GitHub Copilot helped me ship
• ⚔️ Hermes Agent vs LangGraph vs AutoGen — What Actually Happened — AI agents comparison
• 🔒 I Replaced ChatGPT with Gemma 4 Running Locally — Local AI for privacy
• 🔥 Every Google I/O 2026 Developer Tool — What Actually Works — Hands-on tool review
• 💣 10 Microservices Concepts Every Developer Should Know — Architecture essentials
• 🎓 Junior Devs in 2026: What Bootcamps Won't Tell You — Career advice
• 🎵 Vibe Coding is Fun Until You Hit Production — AI coding reality check
• 🤖 AI Agents Replaced My Dev Workflow — Here's What Broke — Productivity lessons

👆 Follow me @mamoor_ahmad for more posts on AI, game development, and web tech!